Inheriting and Promoting the Spirit of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army

From the September 18 Incident in 1931 to the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan in 1945, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army (hereinafter referred to as the “Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army”) endured 14 years of arduous struggle and forged the great spirit of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army. As the spiritual outlook and ideological character manifested by the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army led by the Communist Party of China in the war, the spirit of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army is a concrete embodiment of the great spirit of the War of Resistance, a precious spiritual treasure of the Chinese people, and an important component of the spiritual lineage of Chinese Communists.

从1931年九一八事变至1945年抗日战争胜利，在中国共产党的领导下，东北抗日联军（以下简称“东北抗联”）历经14年艰苦卓绝的斗争，形成了伟大的东北抗联精神。东北抗联精神作为中国共产党领导的东北抗联在战争中表现出来的精神风貌和思想品格，是伟大抗战精神的具体体现，是中国人民弥足珍贵的精神财富，是中国共产党人精神谱系的重要组成部分。

Looking Back at the Arduous Struggle of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army

回望东北抗联的艰苦斗争

After the September 18 Incident, the Manchuria Provincial Committee of the CPC successively sent a large number of outstanding cadres, including Tong Changrong, Zhou Baozhong, Zhao Shangzhi, Feng Zhongyun, and Yang Jingyu, to various parts of the Northeast to create anti-Japanese volunteer armies, anti-Japanese guerrilla units, and other anti-Japanese armed forces under Party leadership. The Communist Party of China and the anti-Japanese armed forces under its leadership bravely stood on the front line of the anti-Japanese struggle. From February 1936 onward, the Northeast People’s Revolutionary Army was successively reorganized into the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, galloping across the white mountains and black waters.[1]1 “White mountains and black waters” is a traditional Chinese poetic reference to the Changbai Mountains and the Heilongjiang (Amur) River, symbolizing the Northeast region of China.

九一八事变后，中共满洲省委先后派出童长荣、周保中、赵尚志、冯仲云、杨靖宇等大批优秀干部到东北各地创建党领导的抗日义勇军、反日游击队等抗日武装。中国共产党及其领导的东北抗日武装力量，勇敢地站在抗日斗争的最前线。1936年2月起，东北人民革命军陆续改编为东北抗日联军，驰骋于白山黑水之间。

As the starting point of the Eastern main battlefield of the World Anti-Fascist War, the Northeast anti-Japanese battlefield not only began the earliest but also resisted the longest, with an extremely harsh combat environment. Before the September 18 Incident, the total strength of the Kwantung Army’s divisions and independent garrison units was about 10,000 men. After the incident, the Japanese army continuously reinforced the Kwantung Army; by the end of 1934, the independent garrison units had expanded to 36 battalions. To completely cut off all material sources for the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, the Kwantung Army implemented the “Three-Year Plan for Public Order Pacification.”[2]2 The “Three-Year Plan for Public Order Pacification” (1936–1939) was a Japanese military campaign to eradicate anti-Japanese forces in Manchuria through systematic suppression, economic blockade, and forced resettlement. According to materials compiled by the Manchukuo Ministry of Public Security, from 1934 to 1939, the Japanese puppet authorities forcibly established 13,451 “collective hamlets”[3]3 “Collective hamlets” (jituan buluo) were fortified villages created by the Japanese to isolate anti-Japanese guerrillas from the civilian population, forcibly relocating rural residents into guarded compounds. in the regions of Jiandao, Fengtian, Andong, Binjiang, and Sanjiang where anti-Japanese armed forces were active, forcing 5 million people in the Northeast to relocate. The Japanese puppet army, police, gendarmes, and secret agents coordinated to carry out brutal suppression of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, launching large-scale military operations such as the “Eastern Border Road Independent Campaign,” the “Sanjiang Region Campaign,” and the “Noe Campaign.”[4]4 The “Noe Campaign” (野副大讨伐, 1939–1941) was a large-scale Japanese military operation named after its commander, Lieutenant General Noe Shinsaku, targeting the Eastern Manchurian anti-Japanese base areas. In 1938, Japan stationed 7 divisions in Northeast China; by 1939, the total strength of the Kwantung Army’s combat units and logistics support units had exceeded 500,000 men. The officers and soldiers of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, in freezing weather and amidst hunger and cold, bravely fought to the death against well-equipped invaders, interpreting the fighting spirit of “one against ten” with their lives.

东北抗日战场作为世界反法西斯战争东方主战场的起始地，不仅开始时间最早，而且抵抗时间最长，斗争环境极为艰苦。九一八事变前，关东军所属师团及独立守备队总兵力约1万人。事变后，日军不断增援关东军，至1934年底，独立守备队已扩充至36个大队。为彻底断绝东北抗联的一切物资来源，关东军实施“治安肃正三年计划”。据伪满治安部编写的材料记载，1934年至1939年，日伪当局在抗日武装活跃的间岛、奉天、安东、滨江、三江等地区，强制建立“集团部落”13451个，导致东北500万民众被迫迁移。日伪军、警察、宪兵、特务协同，对东北抗联进行了残酷镇压，发动了“东边道独立大讨伐”“三江地区大讨伐”“野副大讨伐”等规模较大的军事行动。1938年，日本在中国东北驻军7个师团，至1939年，关东军作战部队及后勤保障部队总兵力已经超过50万人。东北抗联将士在冰天雪地、饥寒交迫中勇敢地同装备先进的侵略者殊死搏斗，用自己的生命诠释了“以一当十”的战斗精神。

The Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army experienced unimaginable survival hardships. Due to the brutal policies of the Japanese puppet authorities, the anti-Japanese soldiers often found themselves isolated, without support, and running out of ammunition and food. At the end of 1938, Li Zhaolin, then political director of the Sixth Army of the Anti-Japanese United Army, wrote in a letter to the Provisional Provincial Party Committee of Northern Manchuria: “No money, no food, no cadres, having lived through four months of brutal struggle…” In 1939, Feng Zhongyun, political commissar of the Third Route Army of the Anti-Japanese United Army, listed a “substitute food list” in a report to his superiors, in which horsehide, pine nuts, grass roots, and the like were all listed as “scarce rations that cannot meet demand.” Years later, Wang Minggui, a general of the Anti-Japanese United Army, recalling his comrades-in-arms, still said with tears in his eyes: “Their clothes were tattered, all the cotton-padded jackets were torn to shreds by branches, exposing the cotton; soldiers without cotton-padded jackets draped themselves in torn cotton quilts, gunny sacks, or sackcloth. Without cotton shoes, some wrapped their feet in horsehide; without hats, some wrapped several layers of cloth around their heads.” In 1940, Wei Zhengmin, deputy commander of the First Route Army of the Anti-Japanese United Army, pointed out in a report to the delegation of the Communist Party of China to the Communist International: “The incomparably cunning enemy… implements a policy of sabotage and sowing discord against our army, publishes frenzied and deceptive public opinion in newspapers… and also establishes policies of economic blockade and the baojia collective hamlet system,[5]5 The baojia system was a traditional Chinese household registration and mutual-responsibility mechanism, co-opted by the Japanese puppet regime for surveillance and control. causing the deterioration of our army’s economic policy.” A series of brutal Japanese puppet policies led to severe attrition in the Anti-Japanese United Army.

东北抗联经历难以想象的生存困境。由于日伪当局的残酷政策，抗联将士经常陷入孤立无援、弹尽粮绝的境地。1938年底，时任抗联第六军政治部主任李兆麟在致北满临时省委的信中写道：“无钱、无粮、无干部，过了4个月残酷斗争生活……”1939年，抗联第三路军总政治委员冯仲云在给上级的报告中，列举了“替代食物清单”，其中，马皮、松子、草根等都被列为“稀缺且无法满足需求之口粮”。多年后，抗联将领王明贵回忆起战友，仍然满眼含泪地讲道：“他们衣着褴褛，棉衣全部被树枝刮得破烂不堪，露出了棉花；没有棉衣的战士，身上披着破棉被、麻袋片或口袋布。没有棉鞋，有的人脚上包着马皮；没有帽子，有的人头上缠着好几层布。”1940年，抗联第一路军副总司令魏拯民在给中国共产党驻共产国际代表团的报告中指出：“无比狡猾的敌人……对我军实行破坏离间政策，在报纸上发表疯狂且充满欺骗的舆论……又确立经济封锁、保甲集团部落政策，导致我军经济政策恶化。”日伪一系列的残酷政策使抗联部队严重减员。

The Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army faced a harsh natural environment. Zhou Baozhong, commander of the Second Route Army of the Anti-Japanese United Army, once wrote in his diary: “White snow covers the earth, snow in the mountains accumulates to a foot deep… The soldiers fighting for national salvation against Japan still wear single-layer clothes and water shoes, moving day and night through the enemy’s blockade lines; their hardship is extreme.” In summer, mosquitoes and insects ran rampant, and marching through swamps caused legs to fester. Whether in bitter winter or scorching summer, the anti-Japanese soldiers could only camp in the open, with “the sky as the house, the earth as the kang,”[6]6 A kang is a traditional Chinese heated brick bed used for sleeping and daily activities in northern China. and “campfires for lodging, snow for walls.” The revolutionary optimism of “fire warms the chest in front, wind chills the back behind” sustained the anti-Japanese soldiers in fighting through extreme cold of minus 40 degrees Celsius; many soldiers lost their hands, feet, or even their lives due to frostbite. In desperate circumstances, they challenged the limits of human survival, always practicing the lofty pursuit of “as long as one breath remains, swear to resist Japan to the death,” forging an immortal monument with their flesh and blood. Their sacrifice and perseverance are a powerful historical testament to the unconquerability of the Chinese nation.

东北抗联面临着恶劣的自然环境。抗联第二路军总指挥周保中曾在日记中写道：“白雪铺满大地，山中雪积及尺……抗日救国战士，犹着单衣水鞋，日夜出没于寇贼倭奴之封锁线，其困苦颇甚。”夏季则蚊虫肆虐，沼泽行军导致双腿溃烂。无论寒冬酷暑，抗联将士们只能露宿野外，“天大的房子，地大的炕”“篝火露营雪筑墙”。“火烤胸前暖，风吹背后寒”的革命乐观主义精神，支撑着抗联将士在零下40摄氏度的极寒中坚持战斗，许多战士因冻伤失去手脚甚至生命。他们在绝境中挑战人类生存极限，始终践行着“一息尚存、誓死抗日”的崇高追求，用血肉之躯铸就不朽丰碑。他们的牺牲与坚持，是中华民族不可征服的有力历史明证。

Highlighting the Historical Status of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army

彰显东北抗联的历史地位

Before the outbreak of the nationwide War of Resistance, the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, led by the Communist Party of China, persisted in anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare under extremely harsh conditions, dealing heavy blows to Japanese puppet colonial rule. Taking the puppet Sanjiang Province and puppet Mudanjiang Province as examples, in just 11 months from 1937 to 1938, the Communist Party of China led 79 struggles against the “collective hamlet” system. The Japanese army lamented: “The majority of the populace has not yet completely separated from the bandits; if we speak in terms of spiritual influence, assuming the bandit army is 30,000, its spiritual bandit allies are probably several times or even dozens of times that number.” For this reason, Japan was forced to invest a large amount of financial and material resources into the Northeast battlefield. According to statistics from the *Showa Economic History*, Japan’s total military expenditure expanded 2.4 times between 1931 and 1936, and the proportion of military expenditure in Japan’s national finances increased from 29% in 1930 to 45.8% in 1936. According to statistics from the Japanese Army Ministry and the Kwantung Army Staff Department, in the six years from the September 18 Incident to the July 7 Incident,[7]7 The July 7 Incident (1937), also known as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, marked the beginning of the full-scale Japanese invasion of China and the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. the total casualties of the Kwantung Army reached 178,200. The Japanese invaders were forced to dispatch large numbers of troops to “suppress” the Northeast anti-Japanese armed forces, delaying the process of Japan launching a full-scale war of aggression against China.

在全民族抗战爆发前，中国共产党领导的东北抗联，在极其艰苦的环境中坚持抗日游击战争，沉重打击了日伪殖民统治。以伪三江省和伪牡丹江省为例，仅1937—1938年的11个月间，中国共产党领导的反“集团部落”斗争就达79次。日军感叹：“大多数的民众尚没有与匪贼完全分开，如果从精神影响来说，假定匪军有三万，其精神上的匪军之友军，尚不知有几倍或几十倍。”为此，日本不得不将大量财力、物力投入东北战场。据《昭和经济史》统计，日本军费总额在1931年至1936年间膨胀了2.4倍，军费在日本国家财政中所占的比例从1930年的29%增加到1936年的45.8%。据日本陆军省和关东军参谋部统计，从九一八事变到七七事变的6年间，关东军伤亡总数达17.82万人。日本侵略者被迫出动大批兵力“讨伐”东北抗日武装，延缓了日本发动全面侵华战争的进程。

After the July 7 Incident, the guerrilla warfare waged by the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army merged into the torrent of the nationwide War of Resistance, becoming an important component of the nationwide War of Resistance. When the Pacific War broke out, the Japanese army still had 13 divisions in Northeast China, and the Northeast battlefield pinned down 25% of Japan’s total military strength. Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out in *The Strategic Problems of the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla War*: “Every additional enemy soldier killed by the guerrillas there, every additional enemy bullet consumed, every additional enemy soldier pinned down so that he cannot enter the pass and go south, counts as an additional contribution to the entire War of Resistance.” According to the 1937 Japanese *Asahi Current Affairs Reader*, the “Manchurian Incident Expenses” in 1931–1932 were 148 million yen, 198 million yen in 1936, and sharply increased to 285 million yen in 1937. According to the combined issue No. 48 and 49 of the 1940 *Current Affairs Series* special edition, the Japanese puppet authorities “had to maintain a Manchurian public security expenditure of 270 million yen and had to maintain 200,000 to 300,000 suppression troops.” The Northeast people, at great sacrifice and cost, made important contributions to the victory of the nationwide War of Resistance.

七七事变后，东北抗联开展的游击战争融入全民族抗战的洪流，成为全民族抗战的重要组成部分。太平洋战争爆发时，日本陆军在中国东北仍有13个师团，东北战场牵制的日军兵力占其总兵力的25%。毛泽东同志在《抗日游击战争的战略问题》中指出：“那里的游击队多打死一个敌兵，多消耗一个敌弹，多钳制一个敌兵使之不能入关南下，就算对整个抗战增加了一分力量。”1937年日本《朝日时局读本》记载，1931—1932年“满洲事变费”为1.48亿日元，1936年为1.98亿日元，1937年陡增至2.85亿日元。据1940年《时事类编》特刊第48、49期合刊记载，日伪当局“不得不保持二亿七千万元的满洲治安费，不得不保持二三十万的镇压兵力”。东北人民以巨大牺牲和代价，为全民族抗战胜利作出重要贡献。

The Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army pinned down a large number of Japanese troops, not only disrupting the Japanese “northern advance” but also delaying the Japanese “southern advance.” In the ten years from the September 18 Incident in 1931 to the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941, the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army and other anti-Japanese armed forces constrained Japan’s strategy of world domination, making it difficult for the Japanese army to expand the war at will. The Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army’s persistence in the War of Resistance indirectly supported the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War, creating favorable conditions for the Soviet Union’s strategic counteroffensive on the European battlefield. Marshal Chuikov, former supreme military advisor to the Soviet Union in China, fully affirmed the significant role of the Chinese anti-Japanese battlefield in coordinating with the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War in his memoir *Mission in China*: “In our most difficult years of war, Japan did not attack the Soviet Union, but instead drowned China in a sea of blood. Anyone who respects objective facts cannot but consider this obvious and indisputable fact.”

东北抗联牵制了大批日军，不仅干扰了日军“北进”，也延迟了日军“南进”。从1931年九一八事变到1941年太平洋战争爆发的10年间，东北抗联等抗日武装制约着日本称霸世界战略，使日军难以随心所欲地扩大战争。东北抗联坚持抗战，间接支援了苏联卫国战争，为苏联在欧洲战场的战略反攻创造了有利条件。曾任苏联驻华最高军事顾问的崔可夫元帅，在回忆录《在华使命》中充分肯定了中国抗日战场策应苏联卫国战争的重大作用：“在我们最艰苦的战争年代里日本也没有进攻苏联，却把中国淹没在血泊之中。稍微尊重客观事实的人，都不能不考虑到这一明显而又无可争辩的事实。”

The Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army coordinated with the Soviet Red Army in its entry into Northeast China, laying the foundation for the Chinese Communist Party to recover the Northeast and liberate all of China. In early 1943, the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army Training Brigade dispatched small units to continuously return to the Northeast for cross-border reconnaissance, surveying intelligence on the Japanese military’s railways, bridges, airfields, and military engineering layouts. Thereafter, the Far Eastern Soviet Red Army’s Transbaikal Military District again dispatched soldiers and intelligence personnel from the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army Training Brigade to return to the Northeast, conducting fire reconnaissance and sabotage operations against various Japanese tactical nodes. In June 1945, the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army Training Brigade reorganized its tasks according to Soviet operational needs, respectively taking responsibility for harassment behind enemy lines, battlefield reconnaissance, guide and translation work, and participating in the Soviet counteroffensive against Japan, directly engaging in combat against Japan under the designation of the Soviet Red Army’s 88th Independent Infantry Brigade. At the same time, over twenty reconnaissance teams of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army infiltrated strategic points such as Mudanjiang, Jiamusi, Harbin, and Changchun, promptly transmitting core intelligence on the Kwantung Army’s troop deployments, defensive fortifications, and logistical supplies. The Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army provided key intelligence to the Soviet Red Army and guided airstrikes, directly dismantling the Japanese defensive system and accelerating the destruction of the Kwantung Army. In early September 1945, the Anti-Japanese United Army Training Brigade successively arrived at twelve strategic centers, including Changchun, Harbin, Shenyang, Jilin, Yanji, and Qiqihar; by mid-September, the Training Brigade had garrisoned 57 strategic points of various sizes, laying a solid foundation for the Chinese Communist Party’s strategic layout in the Northeast and the victory of the War of Liberation.

东北抗联配合苏军出兵中国东北，为中国共产党收复东北、解放全中国奠定基础。1943年初，东北抗联教导旅即派遣小部队不断返回东北进行越境侦察，勘测日军铁路、桥梁、机场及军事工程布局等情报信息。此后，远东苏军后贝加尔军区又派遣东北抗联教导旅战士及情报人员返回东北，对日本各战术节点进行火力侦察与破袭行动。1945年6月，东北抗联教导旅根据苏军作战需求进行任务重组，分别负责敌后袭扰、战场侦察、向导翻译及参加苏军对日反击、以苏联红军第88独立步兵旅番号直接参加对日作战。同时，20余支东北抗联侦察小队渗透至牡丹江、佳木斯、哈尔滨、长春等战略要点，及时传递关东军兵力部署、防御工事及后勤补给等核心情报。东北抗联为苏军提供关键情报并引导空袭，直接瓦解了日军防御体系，加速了关东军的灭亡。1945年9月初，抗联教导旅先后到达长春、哈尔滨、沈阳、吉林、延吉、齐齐哈尔等12个战略中心点，至9月中旬，抗联教导旅已进驻57个大中小战略要地，为中国共产党在东北的战略布局和解放战争的胜利奠定了坚实基础。

Thus it can be seen that the Northeast Chinese battlefield under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party was the earliest anti-fascist battlefield in the East, and the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army played an irreplaceable and important role in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.

由此可见，中国共产党领导的东北抗日战场是东方最早的反法西斯战场，东北抗联在中国人民抗日战争暨世界反法西斯战争中，发挥了不可替代的重要作用。

Forging the Spiritual Highland of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army

铸就东北抗联精神高地

“I cannot leave the Party for a single day” and “I will die on the Northeast anti-Japanese battlefield even if it kills me”—these were the resounding vows made by Zhao Shangzhi, Deputy Commander of the Second Route Army of the Anti-Japanese United Army, to the Party and the people. Zhao Shangzhi was imprisoned multiple times, but this never shook his firm belief in loyalty to the Party. Due to the extremely harsh struggle environment, the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army repeatedly attempted to contact the Party Central Committee, but letters were mostly intercepted by the Japanese and puppet forces, leading to a prolonged loss of contact with the Party Central Committee—a severe political test. In 1939, Feng Zhongyun overcame countless difficulties to go to the Soviet Union, attempting to restore contact with the Party Central Committee, and used a report of over 30,000 characters to express the firm will of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army to merge into a single torrent with the nationwide War of Resistance. Zhou Baozhong lamented: “In the most difficult days, missing Yan’an was like a child missing its mother.” In October 1939, Company Commander Zhu and Squad Leader Ma of the First Company, Twelfth Regiment, Sixth Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army accepted the task of delivering a letter to the local Party organization in Nehe. Along the way, they crossed mountains and ridges, repeatedly breaking through enemy encirclements and pursuits. When they were only 20 li [8]8 A traditional Chinese unit of length, approximately 500 meters. from their destination, Squad Leader Ma was killed, and Company Commander Zhu had both feet severed by charcoal fire. Propping up his fever-wracked body and dragging his broken feet, he crawled desperately through the icy snow for two days and nights before delivering the letter, ultimately dying of severe illness. This firm belief in the inevitable victory of the War of Resistance and this desperate perseverance were precisely the spiritual force that enabled the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army to persist in the War of Resistance and achieve final victory.

“我一天也不能离开党”“死也要死在东北抗日战场上”，这是抗联第二路军副总指挥赵尚志对党和人民立下的铿锵誓言。赵尚志多次身陷囹圄，但丝毫没有动摇对党忠诚的坚定信念。由于斗争环境极端恶劣，东北抗联曾多次尝试联络党中央，但信件多被日伪截获，导致与党中央长期失去联系，这是极大的政治考验。1939年，冯仲云排除万难奔赴苏联，试图与党中央恢复联络，用长达3万余字的报告，表达了东北抗联渴望与全民族抗战汇成一股洪流的坚定意志。周保中感慨：“在最艰难的日子里，想念延安真像孩子想娘一样。”1939年10月，东北抗联第六军第十二团一连的朱连长和马班长接受了送信至讷河地方党组织的任务，一路上翻山越岭，多次突破敌人围追堵截，就在距离目的地仅剩20华里时，马班长牺牲，朱连长被炭火烧断了双脚，强撑着高烧的身体，拖着断脚，在冰天雪地里拼命爬行了两个昼夜才将信件送达，终因重病不治牺牲。这种抗战必胜的坚定信念和绝地坚守，正是东北抗联坚持抗战并取得最终胜利的精神力量。

“I do not begrudge my head for a new homeland, I am willing to pour my hot blood to water China”—these were the words of the female anti-Japanese hero Zhao Yiman, Political Director of the Second Regiment, First Division, Third Army of the Northeast People’s Revolutionary Army, expressing her feelings for family and country, and also a true portrayal of the national righteousness of the Anti-Japanese United Army officers and soldiers. Zhao Yiman entrusted her young child to others and unhesitatingly set foot on the anti-Japanese battlefield. Even when subjected to inhuman torture in prison, she remained unyielding, crying out: “My goal, my principle, my belief is to oppose Manchukuo and resist Japan.” In 1939, the Anti-Japanese United Army’s “goddess sharpshooter” Xu Chengshu was captured while covering the retreat of her unit. Faced with her father’s attempt to persuade her to surrender, she resolutely replied: “I am a daughter of the Party; the Anti-Japanese United Army is my home. As long as I live, I will resist Japan to the end!” Furthermore, the national righteousness of bravely facing national calamity was also manifested in many groups of heroes. In March 1938, sixteen soldiers of the First Company, Eighth Regiment, Third Division of the Fifth Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, led by Company Commander Li Haifeng and Political Instructor Ban Luyi, blocked over 400 Japanese and puppet troops at Xiaogu Mountain in Baoqing County, Heilongjiang. Facing a powerful enemy, the soldiers relied on favorable terrain to put up a tenacious fight, repelling the enemy several times. In the desperate situation of being attacked from front and rear and running out of ammunition, they fought the enemy with bayonets, rifle butts, and even stones, killing or wounding over 100 Japanese and puppet troops. In the end, twelve warriors, including Li Haifeng and Ban Luyi, died a heroic death. Later generations named this mountain Twelve Martyrs Mountain in memory of the Anti-Japanese United Army heroes who died for their country.

“未惜头颅新故国，甘将热血沃中华”，这是抗日女英雄、东北人民革命军第三军第一师第二团政治部主任赵一曼笔下的家国情怀，也是抗联将士民族大义的真实写照。赵一曼将年幼的孩子托付他人，义无反顾地踏上抗日战场，即便在狱中受尽非人折磨，仍坚贞不屈地发出“我的目的，我的主义，我的信念，就是反满抗日”的呐喊。1939年，抗联“女神枪手”许成淑在掩护部队撤退时被俘，面对父亲劝降，她毅然回答：“我是党的女儿，抗联是我的家。只要我活着，就一定抗战到底！”此外，勇赴国难的民族大义还表现在众多英雄群体身上。1938年3月，东北抗联第五军三师八团一连的16名战士，在连长李海峰、指导员班路遗的率领下，于黑龙江宝清县小孤山阻击400余名日伪军。面对强敌，战士们依托有利地形顽强激战，数次击退敌人。在腹背受敌、弹药耗尽的绝境下，他们以刺刀、枪托甚至石块与敌搏杀，毙伤日伪军百余人。最终，李海峰、班路遗等12位勇士壮烈殉国。后人为纪念以身殉国的抗联英雄，将此山命名为十二烈士山。

The Japanese invaders could never understand what Yang Jingyu, Commander of the First Route Army of the Anti-Japanese United Army, relied on to keep fighting when his unit was completely out of food and ammunition. When the enemy cruelly cut open General Yang Jingyu’s body, they found not a single grain of food in his stomach—only cotton, grass roots, and tree bark. On the eve of Japan’s defeat, Kishi Tomijiro, head of the Police Department of the puppet Tonghua Province, was so shocked that he chose to commit seppuku. In his suicide note, he wrote: “China has iron-blooded soldiers like Yang Jingyu; it will certainly not perish.” In the face of enemies ten or even dozens of times their number, the heroic spirit of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army commanders and fighters to fight to the death never wavered. Zhao Shangzhi, whose “martial might shone brightly on the battlefield,” repeatedly won victories against superior numbers. In the “Ice Trench” battle of 1937, Anti-Japanese United Army soldiers killed or wounded over 300 Japanese and puppet troops at the cost of only seven of their own, capturing large quantities of weapons, ammunition, and military supplies. Zhao Shangzhi, who made the enemy tremble at the mention of his name, fought bloody battles with Japanese and puppet forces for over ten years. Facing interrogation by the enemy, Zhao Shangzhi angrily denounced the traitors’ crimes of betraying the country, remaining steadfast until death. Chen Hanzhang, Commander of the Third Front Army of the First Route Army of the Anti-Japanese United Army, repeatedly wrote in his diary: “Truly extremely exhilarating!” “Really exhilarating, what a punishment this is for the enemy.” “Being wounded while struggling for the liberation of the people is a glorious revolutionary wound… sixty-three scars are a permanent memorial.” These impassioned words, full of national blood and spirit, manifest the fearless revolutionary spirit and lofty aspirations of the generals of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army.

日本侵略者始终无法理解，弹尽粮绝的抗联第一路军总司令杨靖宇究竟靠什么坚持战斗？当敌人残忍地剖开杨靖宇将军遗体时，却发现他的胃里一粒粮食都没有，有的只是棉花、草根和树皮。日本战败前夕，伪通化省警务厅厅长岸谷隆一郎因受到巨大冲击，选择剖腹自杀，他在遗书中写道：“中国拥有像杨靖宇这样的铁血军人，一定不会亡国。”在十倍乃至数十倍于己的凶残敌人面前，东北抗联指战员血战到底的英雄气概从未动摇。“拼斗疆场军威赫显”的赵尚志曾多次以少胜多。1937年的“冰趟子”战役，抗联将士仅以牺牲7人的代价，毙伤日伪军300余人，缴获大批武器弹药和军需物资。让敌人闻风丧胆的赵尚志与日伪军浴血奋战十余年，面对敌人的审讯，赵尚志怒斥汉奸的卖国罪行，至死不渝。抗联第一路军第三方面军指挥陈翰章多次在日记中感慨：“实在是极为痛快！”“真痛快，这对敌人是多大的膺惩。”“因为民众解放进行斗争而负伤，是光荣的革命创伤……六十三个伤痕是永久存在的纪念。”这些充满民族血性的激昂文字，彰显了东北抗联将领大无畏的革命精神与豪情壮志。

The year 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. At this historical juncture, advancing research on the history of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army has important academic value and practical significance. Based on a correct view of the history of World War II, using empirical historical methods to deeply investigate the course of the War of Resistance, the struggle environment, the historical contributions, and the spiritual connotation and contemporary value of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army is an important topic that urgently needs deepening in current Chinese historical circles. This research not only helps enrich the content and details of the study of the history of the War of Resistance but also provides new academic growth points for the international academic community to understand the multifaceted aspects of China’s War of Resistance.

2025年是中国人民抗日战争暨世界反法西斯战争胜利80周年，在此历史节点，推进东北抗联史研究具有重要的学术价值和现实意义。基于正确二战史观，以实证史学方法深入考察东北抗联的抗战历程、斗争环境、历史贡献及其精神内涵与当代价值，是当前中国史学界亟待深化的重要课题。这一研究不仅有助于丰富抗战史研究的内容与细节，亦为国际学界理解中国抗战的多元面向提供新的学术增长点。

(Author: Li Shujuan, Chief Expert of the National Social Science Fund Major Project “Research on the Excavation and Collation of Heilongjiang Resource Historical Materials in the Harvard University Collection [1906–1945]”, Professor at Harbin Normal University)

（作者：李淑娟，系国家社科基金重大项目“哈佛大学馆藏黑龙江资源史料挖掘整理研究〔1906—1945〕”首席专家、哈尔滨师范大学教授）

Online Editor: Tongxin

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